Great Egret

Lovely warm lighting and I like the perch in this one Richard.

Very nice Rich. I like the angle of the bird and the great exposure on the whites. The perch has a lot of character and the BG is great. Well done.

Hi Richard:
Very nice image. The perch and background add a lot of interest. There appears to be a very slight yellow/green cast to the egret. I downloaded the larger version, put a threshold adjustment layer on it and set a white point. Then using that point, used the white eyedropper from a curves adjustment to set the white point. The curve added just a bit of blue to compensate for the yellow. For me it helps. You may have wanted the warmer yellow tone since it was late afternoon.

Beautiful image, Richard. I can see that it's a real accomplishment to avoid blowing the whites on this bird. The detail everywhere looks great. The greens look a little sun bleached --- looks like you have not been waterlogged like up here. I would have been very tempted to clone out at least some of the little bit of green beneath the bird's bill just to increase the distance to the bird. However, it's an optional detail. Fine capture.

I like this a lot--the framing, the light, the perfect exposure, the habitat, the background--nicely done.

Quite the consolation prize! Aside from a fine composition, interesting vegetation and a cool bird, the lighting here is totally sublime. The colors are rich and very beautiful, the whites are complex and very interesting.

What wonderful whites. The tamarisk makes a nice perch although I am sure the plant is hated there, as it is here. Nice pose.

Nice one Richard - good job on the whites and I like the way the bird is surrounded by the rich greens of the foliage.

cheers
Rob

Beautiful image! Love the light and complementary soft greens of the foliage and bg.

Hi Richard:
Very nice image. The perch and background add a lot of interest. There appears to be a very slight yellow/green cast to the egret. I downloaded the larger version, put a threshold adjustment layer on it and set a white point. Then using that point, used the white eyedropper from a curves adjustment to set the white point. The curve added just a bit of blue to compensate for the yellow. For me it helps. You may have wanted the warmer yellow tone since it was late afternoon.

- Keith Bauer

Thanks, Keith.

Yes, I've purposely kept the white balance from the raw file here to show the hint of warmth in the late afternoon light. After all, that's one of the reasons we shoot early and late in the day.

I think the hint of green is likely reflection from the tamarisk, and I suppose I could have compensated on the green-magenta scale a little to address that.

At times I will use the whitepoint eyedropper in Adobe Camera Raw if the image looks strangely off color. This happens when I took photos near the west side of my house where there's a lot of green canopy from a large mesquite that colors the light, plus a strange yellow from reflected light bouncing off the stucco exterior. I need to neutralize that and the best way is with the WP eyedropper.

If I forget to do that in raw conversion I will do as you describe, but using a Levels layer rather than a Curves layer for it. Then I'll toggle the adjustment layer on and off to compare the two, and often will then reduce the opacity of the adjustment layer to get something inbetween neutral and original.

like it its great

Excellent image. Love the lighting.
May

Wonderful pose, setting, and lighting.......almost like a studio setup. I like it a lot, Richard.

Richard:
I don't think the light ever gets better than this. The whites on the egret are wonderful too.

Rich

When I look at this image several words popped into my head, I shall list them:

Sublime
Elegant
Regal
Dignified

The warm, late afternoon light created wonderful shadows and a great 3d effect on the bird. The background is very complimentary and helps to add even more dimension. I would not change the wb on this, we shoot early morning & late afternoon to get that warm light.

A beautiful, simple and appealing image done with your usual expertise.

This is a beautiful image! I really love the colors and natual perch. Gorgeous!

This would make a superb front cover for a book. Colours are exquisite. Perch is beautifully soft, and, of course, the bird is superb. Outstanding in every way.

A lovely look at this species Rich. The larger version is great !

Nice image, Richard. I like the way the bird fits into the top of the tree. It's nice to bge able to get this kind of angle on them in a tree.

Really a beautiful capture Richard. I love how well you handled the exposure/whites and how nicely he looks in the foilage and against that BG. Well done!